Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on May 8, 2019

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein shared the details of his personal phone call with President Donald Trump after the shooting. USA TODAY

POWAY, Calif. Congregants at theChabad of Poway heeded a call to"fill the synagogue"on Friday night, nearly one week after a deadly synagogue shooting at the Southern California house of worship.

As some congregants walked to a unity service and dinner,they passedcommunity members holding signs of support. Drivers honked horns in agreement.

"It's a community that comes together, and this type of hatred can't take over who we are. It's not welcome here,"said Leslie Talansky, who was holding a sign that said "Poway Strong."

Law enforcement officers wereclearly visible in the area surrounding the synagogue. Multiple street corners were lined with flowers; signs were left with messages such as "Share love and kindness."

Last Saturday the last day of Passover a gunman entered Chabad of Powayand opened fire, killing one person and inuring three others.Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein was among those injured.

April 30: Hundreds gather in Poway to celebrate the life of Lori Kaye

April 29: Family of girl injured in Poway synagogue shooting: We fled violence in Israel. We thought it was safe here

Goldstein has publicly urged Jews to respond to the tragedy by becoming more devoted to their faith.

"From here on in I am going to be more brazen," he wrote in aNew York Times opinion piece on Monday. "And Im going to use my voice until I am hoarse to urge my fellow Jews to do Jewish. To light candles before Shabbat. To put up mezuzas on their doorposts. To do acts of kindness. And to show up in synagogue especially this coming Shabbat."

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Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Goldstein Shabbat Shalom, Tonight, hundreds of thousands of people are attending shul internationally to pack their shuls wall to wall. Thousands of women and girls are lighting candles tonight in the memory of our beloved Lori Kaye, of blessed memory, and in solidarity with Chabad of Poway. We are all heartbroken, our tears are unstoppable. What happened in our shul last week, what happened to Lori, that has shattered us to our core. But we also need to stop and thank Hashem for protecting us from an even greater carnage, G-d forbid. Within this tragedy we have seen miracles. Weve also seen an unbelievable outpouring of love and support from everywhere, our fellow Chabad centers, Jewish communities throughout this country, and around the world. This has truly demonstrated Am Yisroel Chai! And the messages of encouragement weve received from our local community, the American public at large, including the President of the United States, and people of good conscious everywhere, has been truly heartening. Weve also showed the world what the Chabad of Poway community is made of. That we are proud of who we are and will not back down, we will not cower. Our communitys message of hope in our own time of deep pain has been seen, heard and read on national television and in the biggest newspapers. We have carried our Rebbes message of light over dark, of the power of each individual good deed to the world, and, together, comforted others and driven them to positive action. That is an amazing tribute to the Chabad of Poway community and to Lori. Please join us tonight to welcome Shabbat, and welcome each other back to our shul. Lets come back to our home and declare once again Shema Yisrael! in our holy and pure sanctuary. We are planning for hundreds of guests to join us followed by a kiddush on the patio. Please join Devorie and I, and Howard and Hannah for a catered community Friday night dinner. CONTINUED IN COMMENTS

A post shared by MLC - Meaningful Life Center (@meaningful.life.center) on May 3, 2019 at 11:45am PDT

A standing-room-only crowd of about 700 gathered at the synagogue earlier in the week to honorLori Gilbert Kaye, 60, who died in the attack.

Flowers and messages of support line a street corner adjacent to Chabad of Poway on Friday night.(Photo: Joel Shannon, USA TODAY)

The Chabad-Lubavitch organization said earlier this week that the Poway congregation was launching a "fill the synagogue" campaign, asking Jews to show solidarity with the congregation in light of the tragedy.

Shabbat is a term for the Jewish sabbath, a time between sundown Friday night and sundown Saturday night when observant Jews refrain from many daily tasks such as driving and cooking.

Contributing:Rebecca Plevin andJorge L. Ortiz

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Poway synagogue shooting: Congregants 'fill the synagogue'

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